An International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) team of nuclear safety experts has today completed a seven-day mission to review safety at the Belgian Research Reactor 2 (BR2). Requested by Belgium's regulatory body, the Federal Agency for Nuclear Control (FANC), the mission focused on ageing management and continued safe operation.

The BR2 accounts for about a quarter of the global production of radioisotopes for medical and industrial purposes, including for cancer therapy and medical imaging. It also produces doped silicon, which forms a semiconductor material that provides the basic substance for electronic components.

"The BR2 operator has made significant progress in establishing an effective ageing management programme,” said review team member Amgad Shokr, who is the head of the IAEA's Research Reactor Safety Section. "Still, work remains in identifying and implementing additional practical upgrades to maintain continued safe operation of the reactor in line with the latest IAEA safety standards."

The BR2 is one of three operating research reactors at the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre (SCK-CEN) in Mol, northeast Belgium. In operation since 1963, the BR2 is one of the oldest research reactors in Western Europe. The reactor is permitted to operate until its next periodic safety review in 2026, when a decision on operation for a subsequent 10 years may be taken.

The team provided a number of recommendations and suggestions to strengthen the BR2's safety for continued operation, including: the ageing management programme should be expanded to include radioisotope production facilities and experimental devices as well as all civil structures important to safety; the qualification programme for equipment important to safety should be enhanced; the effectiveness of programmes and procedures to monitor ageing trends and to minimize physical degradation of reactor components should be reviewed on a regular basis; the ageing management programme should be revised to address quality requirements and experience feedback.

The team comprised experts from Argentina, Canada, South Africa, and the IAEA.

Reviews of ageing management and continued safe operation of research reactor are performed in accordance with a methodology developed based on the IAEA Safety Aspects of Long Term Operation, or Salto, peer review service for nuclear power plants, and in accordance with the IAEA safety standards for research reactors.